Belgium Grand Prix 2018 – Race

Both cars started the race on the soft Pirelli tyre, with Sergey starting P15 and Lance P16

Sergey and Lance made up several positions at the start of the race, following multiple incidents into turn one

The Safety Car was immediately deployed before pitting on lap four

Sergey ran as high as P9 during the race before pitting for the supersoft tyre on lap 24, one lap later than Lance

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: A fine day in Spa without rain so at least the race was not complicated by the weather, but there was a big set of incidents at turn one. There was an impact between Bottas and Sergey, so we were very lucky to emerge from that unscathed and we were able to continue. We came through with both cars in reasonably good positions. We ran a late one-stop strategy, soft to supersoft tyre, which worked well for us. We were able to beat Hartley and Vandoorne and very nearly held Sainz behind us. But none the less, considering recent results this is a good result today for the team and a good solid performance from both drivers. We will build on this in the races to come.

Sergey Sirotkin: It was a reasonable race to be honest. Our race pace was closer to our competitors and I was fighting a Sauber for points at the beginning of my stint which showed we were having a proper fight, which wasn’t down to just luck. The prospect of getting points was a nice feeling but we just missed it. I enjoyed the couple of laps at the start, I was manging the pace and my stint. I think we had good pace compared to where we are usually. After the pitstop, everything looked even better. I wasn’t lucky catching the Toro Rosso at that part of the track, I struggled for a lap and a half with the tyres and that’s how Carlos (Sainz) got through, otherwise I think had enough pace to keep him behind. That would have made for a very special race for where we are and what we have but I think we can take a lot of positives from today.

Lance Stroll: I felt we were better compared to the rest of the field today than we have been recently, and that is a positive sign. Renault was a bit quicker than us, but not too much quicker. I think they had that bit better extra pace and undercut us. Carlos was on the mediums at the beginning and we were on the softs, and he was kind of maintaining the pace, but on the supersoft he undercut us quite easily.